Build an Issue-Spotting Checklist for Every Course (and Stop Missing Points)

On most law school exams, the biggest point losses come from issues you never mention. A weak paragraph on an issue still earns partial credit. An issue you missed earns nothing.

Issue spotting improves with practice, but you can speed things up with a checklist: a short list of the issues a course can raise, in the order you'd analyze them. You memorize it, jot it down when the exam starts, and run each fact pattern against it.

How to build one

Start from your rule statements. List every major rule in the course. That's your raw material.

Group by claim or stage. Organize the list the way an answer would move. For Contracts, that's formation, defenses, terms, performance, breach, and remedies.

Cut it down. The checklist should fit on half a page. Use short labels, not full rules. The labels trigger the rules you've memorized.

Add trigger facts. Next to some items, note the kind of fact that should make you think of it. "Minor, intoxicated, or mentally impaired party" next to capacity. "Price over $500, goods" next to the UCC statute of frauds.

Example: Torts

• Intentional torts: battery, assault, false imprisonment, IIED, trespass to land, trespass to chattels, conversion
• Defenses: consent, self-defense, defense of others, defense of property, necessity
• Negligence: duty (including special duties), breach, actual cause, proximate cause, damages
• Negligence defenses: contributory or comparative negligence, assumption of risk
• Strict liability: abnormally dangerous activities, wild animals
• Products liability: manufacturing defect, design defect, failure to warn
• Other: vicarious liability, joint and several liability

Example: Contracts

• Governing law: UCC or common law
• Formation: offer, acceptance, consideration or substitute (promissory estoppel)
• Defenses: statute of frauds, capacity, mistake, misrepresentation, duress, unconscionability, illegality
• Terms: parol evidence, interpretation, implied terms
• Performance: conditions, substantial performance, perfect tender (UCC)
• Excuse: impossibility, impracticability, frustration of purpose
• Breach and remedies: expectation, reliance, restitution, specific performance, mitigation
• Third parties: third-party beneficiaries, assignment, delegation

How to use it on the exam

Spend the first few minutes writing your checklist on scratch paper. Read the fact pattern once for the story. Then read it again with the checklist, marking each fact that triggers an item. Outline your answer from those marks before you start writing.

This feels slow the first time. With practice, it becomes the fastest way to make sure nothing gets left out.

Where Lexora Prep fits

A checklist only works if you can expand each label into a full rule on demand. Lexora Prep is a Black Letter Law rule-training platform that drills exactly that: you practice concise rule statements from memory in five modes, and Lexora tracks which rules and elements you miss so they come back for review. Essay Practice then lets you test your checklist on original fact patterns, with feedback on which issues you spotted and which you missed.

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About Lexora Prep

Lexora Prep is a Black Letter Law rule-training and essay practice platform for law students and bar exam candidates. It gives you 700+ concise rules across 8 bar-tested subjects and asks you to recall them, not just reread them, through five modes: Typing, Fill Blank, Rule Elements, Ordering, and Flashcards. Lexora tracks the elements you miss, brings weak rules back for review, and builds each session around your weak areas and available study time. When you're ready to apply the law, Essay Practice gives you 120+ original essays with detailed feedback on issue spotting, rule accuracy, application, conclusions, and organization.

For law students, that means rule statements that are ready for finals, and a head start on the bar exam you'll take after graduation.

Start practicing free → The Free plan includes a rule-practice preview and 3 Essay Practice questions.

Lexora Prep is a supplemental study tool, not a full bar review course, and it does not guarantee exam results. Legal rules can vary by jurisdiction; verify important rules with your course materials.